Officers investigate deaths as murder-suicide

Billy Dragoo

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, December 25, 2002

Charles Britton Dick, 60, died from a shotgun blast to his head and his wife, Margaret Hardy Dick, 54, died from head trauma and multiple stab wounds. The couple's 13-year-old daughter was assaulted, but was treated and released from Trinity Medical Center in Brenham.

According to Waller County Sheriff Randy Smith, the deaths occurred about 7 a.m. Saturday at the couple's home in the 52000 block of Highway 290, west of Hempstead.

Smith said Dick apparently struck his wife in the head with a hammer and stabbed her multiple times while she was asleep. He then went into the daughter's room where she was awake and struck her in the head with the hammer. As he left the daughter's room, she asked if he had killed her mother and he said he had, according to the sheriff.

Dick left the residence and went behind a barn on the property and apparently shot himself in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun.

The daughter called a relative and then sheriff's officers.

Smith said Dick worked out of his home for Sigma Solutions, Inc. and was apparently despondent over his financial situation.

The "beginnings of a suicide note" were found on a computer and outlined some of Dick's financial problems, according to the sheriff.

"It's pretty obvious what happened," Smith said. "We're investigating it as a homicide-suicide."

The sheriff said officers recovered the hammer, a knife and the shotgun.

An autopsy has been ordered at the Harris County Medical Examiner's office, but the results have not been returned as of Monday.